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GUYANA CHRONICLE Thursday, May 31, 2018
PM Rowley says Cricket Australia talks provided insight for ICC meeting PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says his meeting with Cricket Australia (CA) officials last week has armed him with “valuable insight”, ahead of CARICOM’s meeting with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in November. Speaking following his return from Australia, Rowley told reporters here Tuesday that his discussions Down Under had provided him with a new perspective, one which would inform the Prime Ministerial sub-committee’s plans to overhaul the governance structure of West Indies cricket. The sub-committee, which is chaired by St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, is expected to meet with the ICC during the Twenty20 Women’s World Cup scheduled for Guyana, St Lucia and Antigua, to convey what Rowley recently labelled as the “desperate urgency” of dealing with the governance issues in West Indies cricket. “Our future is tied up not so much with talking to Cricket Australia,” Rowley explained. “That was good to get the experience and solicit their support … but the key to it is the ICC. They gave us an insight as to how they dealt with the ICC in bringing about
Prime Minister Keith Rowley (left) with CEO of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland, during their meeting.
the re-organisation of their cricket.” He continued: “I’m a member of the cricket committee of CARICOM; Prime Minister Gonsalves is the chairman. We’re trying to meet with the ICC for a sit down, for a conversation. “In London, that (meeting) was declined because of the unavailability of certain people but they indicated to us that an opportunity will arrive in November and we intend to avail ourselves of that opportunity. “… as a member of that (cricket) committee, I had valuable insight as to what went on in Australia where Australia now had cricket run by Cricket Australia.” CARICOM, the powerful regional nation grouping, is pressing Cricket West Indies (CWI) to change its governance structure in order
to improve accountability and the overall management of the game. But with the regional governing body having stoutly resisted, CARICOM has pressed ahead with creating what Gonsalves has termed the “broad framework” for the “legislative approach” intended to be pursued. At the two-day Intersessional in Haiti last February, CARICOM leaders adopted legal advice which affirmed their position disputing CWI’s right to manage the “public good” of West Indies cricket. Rowley said the Australian model of governance was one which should trigger an “interesting conversation” in the Caribbean. “As a matter of fact, one of the things I discovered is that the board – Cricket Australia – how people get
there and how they function and whom they represent,” he pointed out. “And it would make interesting conversation here in the West Indies as to how people get into that position in Australia, and why Australia cricket is where it is and why ours is where it is.” Rowley’s meeting with Cricket Australia formed part of an official visit to Australia where he also met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and discussed several other matters including national security and border protection. But he said it had been necessary to also have talks with Cricket Australia in order to get a sense of how they had restructured. “I wanted to meet with Cricket Australia for the simple reason that I wanted to get a first-hand feel as to how they went about fixing their problem … and they did give us good insight and I can tell you across Australia, there is a sadness about the demise of West Indies cricket,” Rowley noted. “Every person I spoke to, and they were many, speak about the great tragedy that is the loss of West Indies cricket and they all spoke very fondly about the years of rivalry with West Indies cricket and the days when that was the pinnacle of cricket as a game.”
Gayle sizing up big stage at Lord’s today LONDON, England (CMC) – While historic Lord’s will offer the perfect stage for today’s Twenty20 International between West Indies and the ICC World XI, there is only one player likely to provide the box office aura the occasion demands. Superstar opener Chris Gayle, the world’s finest Twenty20 batsman, will suit up for the 18:00hrs (13:00hrs Eastern Caribbean time) contest and is expected to be a massive pull, as organisers seek to raise funds for five stadiums in the Caribbean damaged last September by the passage of hurricanes Irma and Maria. “It’s good to be in this sort of an event, especially when you have to give back and we all know the cause for this based on what happened in the Caribbean,” said the explosive left-hander. “So this is something to uplift
Twenty20 superstar Chris Gayle is highly motivated for today’s T20 International. the Caribbean and hopefully we can get our stadiums back up and Caribbean people can get home cricket back into their territories as well. “We’re looking forward to it, all the guys are here so hopefully it can be a nice competitive game … and everyone tries to entertain the crowd as much as possible. “The turnout, I have no doubt about it. I’m sure you’ll have
people coming out in their numbers which is fantastic so we just have to try and be the best we can be tomorrow.” Gayle is the most successful ever T20 batsman with 11 436 runs at an average of 40 and a strike rate of nearly 149, while scoring 21 hundreds. He is the only batsman to score in excess of 10 000 runs and also make more than 10 centuries, and is just one of four batsmen to hit two centuries in T20 Internationals. In the twilight of his career as he closes in on his 39th birthday, Gayle is still highly motivated and especially so for this fixture. “We’re playing at one of the best venues in the world, the Lord’s cricket ground,” he said. “(We have) good opponents in the World XI and that’s why it’s called the World XI so it should be a very, very competitive battle especially
with WI as World champions – we’ve won it (T20 World Cup) twice. “So it should be very, very competitive and a good showcase for some youngsters to showcase their talent as well. It would be good for them to make sure they do the best they can.” He added: “They should actually enjoy the moment and enjoy the occasion. But I’ve played a couple of matches here and it’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just a one-off game – you see the ball, you smash the ball and the bowlers should just enjoy the moment as well.” West Indies will be led by 2016 T20 World Cup hero, Carlos Brathwaite, with the likes of Andre Russell and Evin Lewis also included in the squad. The World XI will be skippered by flamboyant Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi.
Chandimal warms up with 108 on opening day of Sri Lanka tour PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Captain Dinesh Chandimal warmed up nicely for next week’s start of the threeTest series against West Indies with a hundred, on the opening day of Sri Lanka’s three-day match against CWI President’s XI. The right-hander stroked 108 as the visitors, opting to bat at the Brian Lara Stadium, ended Wednesday on 318 for six. Opener Kusal Perera supported with 65 while former captain Angelo Mathews struck 41, Roshen Silva, 28, and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella, an unbeaten 26. Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican (2-67) and offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall (2-80) both picked up two wickets apiece. The President’s XI struck success with the first ball of the day when fast bowler Miguel Cummins bowled Kusal Mendis without a run on the board. However, Chandimal then anchored two successive century stands to put the innings back on course. Firstly, he put on 130 for the second wicket with Perera, a
stand that steered Sri Lanka to lunch at 97 for one. Unbeaten on 48 at the interval, Perera faced 93 balls in a shade under 2-1/2 hours and counted 10 fours and a six before perishing in the second session. Chandimal found an ally in Mathews to add a further 114 for the third wicket, as Sri Lanka strolled to tea on 210 for two. All told, Chandimal struck six fours and three sixes in an innings which spanned 216 balls and just under 4-1/2 hours. Matthews, meanwhile, counted six fours in a 110ball innings that required 2-1/2 hours. On 94 at tea, Chandimal reached three figures following the resumption before becoming left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer’s lone wicket of the day. His dismissal triggered a small slump where Sri Lanka lost three wickets for 44 runs to slide to 288 for five. Dickwella propped up the innings in a 30-run, sixth wicket stand with Dilruwan Perera who made 17 before playing back to the final ball of the day and going lbw to Warrican.
SCORE BOARD SRI LANKA 1st Innings K Mendis b Cummins
0
K Perera c Powell b Cornwall
65
*D Chandimal c Brooks b Reifer
108
A Mathews lbw b Cornwall
41
R Silva c Cornwall b Warrican
28
+N Dickwella not out
26
D Perera lbw b Warrican
17
Extras (b12, lb4, nb17)
33
TOTAL (6 wkts, 89.1 overs)
318
To bat: L Gamage, A Dananjaya, K Rajitha, L Kumara. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-130, 3-244, 4-263, 5-288, 6-318. Bowling: Cummins 15-5-47-1, Reifer 13-1-51-1, Joseph 12-1-49-0, Warrican 23.1-5-67-2, Cornwall 26-6-88-2. PRESIDENT’X XI – *K Powell, S Ambris, V Singh, S Brooks, J Campbell, J Hamilton, R Reifer, R Cornwall, M Cummins, K Joseph, J Warrican.